View full sizeJohn Munson/The Star-LedgerAlka Sinha hugs to her son Ravi after his testimony in the trial of Steven Contreras in Middlesex County Superior Court in New Brunswick today. The 14-year-old boy testified about seeing his father, Divyendu Sinha, beaten by four teenagers as the family was walking through through a suburban Old Bridge neighborhood.

NEW BRUNSWICK — For 30 minutes, the 14-year-old boy answered a prosecutor’s questions calmly and directly, stripping emotion from his testimony as he recounted the night of June 25, 2010.

"That was the worst day of my life," he said in a New Brunswick courtroom today, his voice even. "My father was killed."

Ravi Sinha maintained that composure as he spoke of his family’s stroll around their Old Bridge neighborhood and how it changed in an instant. How four young men rushed up to them and, for no comprehensible reason, began raining blows and kicks on Ravi and his father. How his father crumpled to the ground and screamed in pain.

Ravi wiped his eyes only once.

Then a prosecutor played a recording of the teen’s 911 call to police, and the mettle that had been holding Ravi Sinha together abruptly dissolved.

Hearing his own voice calling for help, hearing that night come alive, the gangly teen began sobbing uncontrollably, cradling his face in his hands. Across the courtroom, his mother rose and moved to comfort him but was instructed by a prosecutor and family members to remain seated.

The emotional moment prompted Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz to call a brief recess, leaving Ravi free to walk away from the witness stand and into his mother’s outstretched arms.

By the time he returned to the stand 20 minutes later, three boxes of tissues had been placed on the wooden ledge that surrounds the jury.

View full sizeJohn Munson/The Star-LedgerSteven Contreras appears in court today in New Brunswick.

The testimony came in the trial of Steven Contreras, one of five former Old Bridge High School students charged with murder in the unprovoked attack on Ravi and his father, Divyendu Sinha. The elder Sinha, a 49-year-old computer scientist, died four days later.

Contreras, who turns 19 on Saturday, is not accused of taking part in the violence, but prosecutors contend he is as guilty of murder as the attackers because he drove them around that night and shared in their intent to harm anyone they came across.

The other defendants — Julian Daley, Cash Johnson, Christian Tinli and Christopher Conway, who were 16 and 17 at the time of the assault — are to be tried together in July.

In court today, Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Kuberiet played an audio recording of a statement Contreras gave to police. Tinli and Johnson, both star athletes at the high school, were looking for a fight, Contreras said on the tape.

They found one on Fela Drive, where Ravi, then 12, was walking with his father, mother and older brother.

Contreras said he stopped at the intersection of Fela and Nathan Drive, then watched as his friends approached the family and began throwing punches. One person fell to the ground, he said. Then his friends rushed back to the car and told him to drive. He said they refused to tell him what happened.

"They were just shocked that this happened," Contreras said on the tape.

Ravi offered a more detailed account in his testimony, saying he heard a car suddenly stop behind them, then saw four people get out. A muscular African-American male rushed up.

"Hey, I want to talk with you," Ravi remembered hearing. He said he parents continued walking, ignoring the four people, until the African-American male punched his father above his right ear, then dashed back toward the car.

"Why do you want to fight?" Ravi said his father called out.

John Munson/The Star-LedgerAlka Sinha talks to her son Ravi during a break in his testimony today.

The four attackers returned, he said, and the same person hit his father on the right side of his head a second time, knocking him to the ground.

Ravi said he, too, was punched, sending his glasses flying. Once he fell to the ground, the teen said, he was kicked twice in the back of the head. He could hear his father being punched and screaming in pain.

As abruptly as it began, the attack ended, Ravi said.

"Let’s get out of here," he heard one of the assailants say before all four attackers ran to the car.

Ravi said he, his mother and brother helped Divyendu Sinha get up, but after a short distance, the father stopped to sit on a curb. Looking for help, Ravi called 911, describing the attackers.